Farewell to Rocky Mountain National Park

The calendar tells me its August, but I'm not quite sure I believe it.  Do you?  Yes- it's been ridiculously hot outside for a long time.  But I'm just not ready for it to be the last month full of summer.  Unfortunately, I don't have a choice- so it's be ready or nothing. 

I hope you've enjoyed my Colorado images.  I spent ALOT of time photographing in the park, and I wanted to take the time to carefully select my best images and present them here.  So much of blogging typically involves the day-to-day activities. But I wanted to take the time to explore a photographic topic in depth.  I hope you've been enjoying it.  If you haven't- let me know with a comment or e-mail.

With these four images, I'll be bringing the Rocky Mountain National Park images to a close.  On our last full day in the park, I wanted to capture some dragonfly and damselfy images.  I went to Lily Lake to see if I could find dragons and damsels- and I did.  I also found fly fisherman, picnicers, wedding parties being photographed, and plenty of day hikers.  I had spent most of my time in the park during the week, but when I hit this spot on a Saturday, I got a taste of just how much the locals use RMNP as a quick getaway from the local cities.

The last image is perhaps one of my favorites from the trip- A lone ponderosa pine, growing in granitic bedrock, overlooking the snowcapped mountains that lead to Long's Peak.  Rocky Mountain National Park is a spectacular place.  Scenic and wildlife photographic opportunities abound.  I hope we are able to return soon. 

-Tom

Rocky Mountain Roundup- Mammals of Rocky Mountain National Park

Coyote- Fairly common, there and even here in Ohio.  Notice it's posing behind Mountain Goldenbanner!

Best guess?  The Mountain Cottontail.  Any rabbit experts out there?  Does this one have enough hair in its ears?  This one was hanging out near our condo.

The golden-mantled ground squirrel that prompted Weston to say his longest sentence that I've heard to date.  "Hi Squirrel- How are you?" I was dumbfounded.  These things are RIDICULOUSLY tame, they're used to being fed, but there are plenty of signs that say "don't feed these squirrels!"

Higher up in elevation I found these interesting chipmunks.  I believe this is the least chimpmunk, which can be found throughout the park.

And here is my Holy Grail picture- A pika.  I was hoping for a better photo- can you see it?

And finally- the mule deer- this buck in velvet was hanging around during the wedding rehearsal dinner.  I took this shot just as we were loading the kids up in the car- I literally had put my camera into the trunk when it came into view.  Magic moment, right time, right place, and I had my camera!

 

During July (and August!) 2011, I'm writing about my late June trip to Rocky Mountain National Park.  I hope you enjoy this brief  exetnded swing to the western U.S.

Mountain Goldenbanner, Thermopsis montana

Let's continue exploring the Rocky Mountains, shall we?  At 8000 feet up, spring comes much later than it does in Ohio.  It was awesome to be there in late June but to see many "spring" wildflowers.  Perhaps the flower I photographed the most was the mountain goldenbanner, a member of the pea family.  It was everywhere in meadows at lower elevations.  At the time, I wondered why this species was so prevalent even though the park has a large elk population that has grazed many areas to the point where they need to be fenced off to exclude the elk.  After a little research tonight, however, I learned that several members of the genus Thermopsis, including this species, contain toxic alkaloids.  The elk don't touch it.

I'm almost ready to wrap up looking back on the rocky mountains.  Look for a roundup of the various animal species that we encountered that I haven't yet shown this weekend.

-Tom

During July 2011, I'm writing about my late June trip to Rocky Mountain National Park.  I hope you enjoy this brief swing to the western U.S.

Adventures with a Two Year Old in Rocky Mountain National Park

Taking a break at Bear Lake

We had to stop at every trickle of running water.

And we had fun examining pebbles to determine if they'd be good to throw into Bear Lake.

Sizing up the Alluvial Fan Falls.

It's hard not to be cute when you're only two years old.

Sprague Lake, again making sure the little pebble he's about to toss into the water is suitable for that purpose.

Another week in the books- how was yours?  Let's just say I'd rather be remembering our late June 2011 trip to Rocky Mountain National Park!  Last weekend I wrote about the flora and fauna of the alpine tundra.  Here, Weston is pictured at much lower elevations in the park, although he did make it up past 9475 feet at Bear Lake.  The little guy was huffing and puffing as we took our gingerly stroll around the lake.

The whole family went to RMNP for Megan's brother's wedding- we stayed for a week, but Megan still had to do her day job while we were there.  After returning from early morning photo excursions, I would pick up Weston around 9:00 to give momma a break.  Weston and I had a blast exploring the park- even at two years old he was a super nature adventurer.

Weston's two early loves of the natural world are rocks and water.  He had no problems finding small rocks to throw.  Climbing boulders was also great fun.  All with my help, of course.  We visited short trails with easy access to the parking lot.  He walked for the most part- sometimes he would stop, look up at me, raise his arms and say "up".  That's when we'd stop and take a break.  Yes, it took us an hour to go one half mile but that's what exploring nature with a two year old is like.  And that's how it should be!  So many of the park visitors were in such a hurry to see everything, they actually saw very little.

Weston and I had a blast exploring the park together- on our next trip hopefully momma and Brody will be able to join us more frequently.

Tom

During July 2011, I'm writing about my late June trip to Rocky Mountain National Park.  I hope you enjoy this brief swing to the western U.S.

Flora of the Alpine Tundra

We're continuing yesterday's exploration on the alpine tundra of Rocky Mountain National Park. The park experienced heavy snowfall this past spring, and the alpine regions continued to receive new snow into the last week of June. It doesn't take long, however, for the liliputian flora of the tundra to respond to a warm up. These plants have a growing season that might last three months. They've got to flower and produce seeds in that short amount of time. All of these species literally hug the ground like a carpet draped across the mountain tops.

If you have studied the flora of the east, you'll see some familiar sights. I have not taken the time to identify these particular species- please enjoy the floral show!

-Tom

I've gone to a "blogging only on the weekend" format- enjoy the week, I'll catch you next weekend and I'll have more views of the Rocky Mountains.

During July 2011, I'm writing about my late June trip to Rocky Mountain National Park.  I hope you enjoy this brief swing to the western U.S.

Yellow-bellied Marmot

In June 2010, I traveled to Yellowstone National Park and saw most every animal featured in the park brochure except two exceptions- the trumpeter swan, and the yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris).  After photographing these curious creatures at Rocky Mountain National Park, I know why.  While at Yellowstone, I stayed at low elevations where the elk, bison, and wolves hung out.  To see marmots, I needed to be high up on the alpine tundra of the mountains.

While driving up trail ridge road, I stopped at the first major parking area, the overlook of forest canyon.  It took me a little while to notice that the area was literally crawling with yellow-bellied marmots.  Well acclimated to people, these creatures reminded me of a alpine version of our groundhog.  And even more interesting, they loved to lick the rocks that made up the walls of the overlook.  One brave marmot even ventured into the walled off area meant to keep the people off the tundra and from falling into the canyon. 

I had a blast photographing these fascinating, mountain creatures which live in an area that is covered with snow 7-8 months of the year, 11,500 feet above sea level.  Tomorrow, I'll share photos of the amazing liliputian flowers of the alpine tundra that these marmots most likely call food.

-Tom


During July 2011, I'm writing about my late June trip to Rocky Mountain National Park.  I hope you enjoy this brief swing to the western U.S.

Ultra-wide Views of Rocky Mountain National Park

While photographing in the park, I most likely had a telephoto lens for wildlife or the ultrawide Canon 10-22 mm lens that I borrowed from lensrentals.com  Contrasting with yesterday's telephoto views of the park, here are several images shot at 10mm with my Canon Eos 7D.

There's a creature in this photo- can you be the first to spot it?

The first time a rented an ultra-wide lens, I didn't bring back very good photographs.  When you're viewing the world with this wide angle, the most important thing to remember is to GET CLOSE to your subject.  Whatever you are photographing, you really can't be close enough.  Remember those two words, and you'll be successful with ultra-wide lenses.

Cheers,

Tom

Telephoto Views of Rocky Mountain National Park

Have you noticed that very long telephoto and very wide angle shots are trendy amongst today's photographers?  Each night before I go to bed, I use the Life "app" to review the day's top photos.  With almost predicatble regularity, each image is an extreme wide angle or a long telephoto.  What happened to the good 'ole days of the 50mm equivalent lens?  I think that focal lenght has died for photojournalism.

Anyways, As I was shooting in RMNP, I often had my long telephoto lens on the camera to capture wildlife.  Why not capture the interesting details 10 miles across the valley as well? 

Tom

Elk- Estes Park Colorado and Nearby Rocky Mountain National Park

 

If you'd like to photograph the American elk or Wapiti, (Cervus canadensis), you'll do well in Estes Park Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park.  There is no shortage of these amazingly huge mammals there.

After much thought, I'm going to plug on here at the Ohio Nature Blog.  The next few weeks will be dedicated to the plants, animals, and scenery of Rocky Mountain National Park.  Expect longer more involved posts during the weekend.  I'll post quick things, iphone photos, and the like during the week as time allows. Thanks for viewing!

Tom